Israeli yet to send proof of Hamas in Gaza media tower: US

By Merve Aydogan

ANKARA (AA) - US Secretary of State Antony Blinken said on Monday that he had yet to see any evidence from Israel that Hamas was operating in a Gaza building housing media groups recently leveled by an Israeli strike.

Speaking at a news conference in the Danish capital Copenhagen, Blinken told reporters that Israel had not provided any information on its strike against the media tower despite US request.

On Saturday, Israeli warplanes destroyed Al-Jalaa Tower, which housed the offices of various media groups, including Al Jazeera and the Associated Press.

Israeli missiles also killed two Palestinian mothers and eight children in the al-Shati refugee camp in the southern Gaza Strip.

"Direct attacks on civilians are war crimes," Amnesty International said on Twitter, adding that it was "deeply concerned over the mounting death toll in Gaza."

The London-based rights group called on the International Criminal Court to "investigate Israel's attack on the al-Shati refugee camp."

"The Israeli attack on al-Jalaa building destroying homes, Al-Jazeera, Associated Press offices must also be investigated as a war crime. The strike fits a pattern of Israel's collective punishment of the Palestinian population."

At least 200 Palestinians have been killed, including 59 children and 35 women, in Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip since last week, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry. More than 1,300 people have also been injured and tens of buildings destroyed or damaged in the Israeli assault.

The recent tensions that started in East Jerusalem during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan spread to Gaza as a result of Israeli assaults on worshippers in the flashpoint Al-Aqsa Mosque compound and Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.

Israel occupied East Jerusalem, where Al-Aqsa is located, during the 1967 Arab-Israeli war. It annexed the entire city in 1980 in a move never recognized by the international community.